FUT8 and Protein Core Fucosylation in Tumours: From Diagnosis to Treatment

Glycosylation changes are key molecular events in tumorigenesis, progression and glycosyltransferases play a vital role in the this process.FUT8 belongs to the fucosyltransferase family and is the key enzyme involved in N-glycan core fucosylation.FUT8 and/or core fucosylated proteins are frequently upregulated in liver, lung, colorectal, pancreas, prostate,breast, oral cavity, oesophagus, and thyroid tumours, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, ependymoma, medulloblastoma and glioblastoma multiforme and downregulated in gastric cancer.They can be used as markers of cancer diagnosis, occurrence, progression and prognosis.Core fucosylated EGFR, TGFBR, E-cadherin, PD1/PD-L1 and α3β1 integrin are potential targets for tumour therapy.In addition, IGg1 antibody defucosylation can improve antibody affinity, which is another aspect of FUT8 that could be applied to tumour therapy.